In the popular village of Dickwella, where the salt air drifts through open windows, Helā’s studio feels more like a home workshop than a shopfront. There are shell-studded clutches, hand-dyed textiles, and batik moon calendar wall hangings. Everything here reflects the process of collaboration, sourcing, and craftsmanship.
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Each object begins with an idea and ends with a story. The SandShack Clutch was born from the desire to carry only what matters, “a phone, a card, and in my case a mist spray,” says founder Marta Pons-Formosa. Made entirely in Sri Lanka, its journey begins in a fabric shop in Colombo, where the canvas is sourced, and continues to a small tailor studio in Ahangama. The shells, collected by Mahinda, a coastal craftsman from Tangalle, are pierced by a jeweller in Dickwella, then woven into a delicate net handmade by an Uncle the team met through a friend.
The Block-Printed Bed Linen brings colour back to the bedroom. Designed and produced in Jaipur, Rajasthan, “the epicentre of this ancient technique,” as Pons-Formosa calls it, the patterns are carved into wooden blocks, printed by hand on Mumbai cotton, then sewn into lightweight summer sheets. The geometry is modern, but the rhythm of the printing process remains centuries old.
Back in Sri Lanka, the Batik Moon Calendar draws inspiration from the island’s Buddhist calendar, the rhythm of Poya Days and full moons that shape local life. Each piece is handmade and dyed in Ampara, on the east coast, by artisans who work in small batches to respect the natural pace of drying and colour setting. “It’s not just decoration,” says Pons-Formosa. “It’s a reminder of the cycles that still guide us here.”
Around these core collections, Helā curates jewellery designed in Sri Lanka and India, antique Indian Gudris, silk pareos for long beach days, and limited runs of linen threads.
There’s a kind of quiet defiance in Helā’s approach, a refusal to rush or overproduce. The store’s pieces are not seasonal or trend-based; they simply arrive when ready, each carrying the imprint of the hands that made them.
